A Different Limb
The day was just drawing to a close, with Princess Celestia’s glorious sun just dipping over the horizon. For the School of Friendship, another day of long lectures on the history of friendship was over. Many of the local pony students were dragging themselves back home, but looking forward to learning more about the magic of friendship. However, for a group of five particular students from faraway kingdoms, and one pony, they had their lodgings within the school itself. After grabbing a meal, they all were sat around the table having some good chats and laughs.
Usually, their friendly chat is about what they learn at school. Sandbar would talk enthusiastically about Equestria’s heroes’ adventures and daring feats. How Spike fell from the top of a crystal castle with the Crystal Heart to save an entire empire. A magic-stealing centaur from Equestria’s long past having escaped from Tartarus bent on stealing all the magic in Equestria, only to be defeated by Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends. How Ponyville was turned into a chaotic playground for the then mad Spirit of Chaos, Discord. However, he was then defeated and turned to stone, but the Element of Kindness reformed him and now has regular tea parties with the yellow pegasus. And how they all saved Equestria from being drained from magic from some manipulative, smart pegasus.
His friends would listen with varying degrees of interest. Gallus would just have a talon to his face, a bored expression on his face. He didn’t want to go through what they learned from school again. Silverstream would have her full undivided attention, her eyes glistening with wonder. Ocellus, being the smart one, would nod at every fact and make her contributions to the stories. Smolder would punch the ait at every defeat, being from a land where competition and triumph are preferred. Yona would be the calm one out of the six, smiling at being in the company of her friends during these storytelling sessions.
Other topics were what their kingdoms were like, plans for any dreaded homework, or worse, a test set by the Princess of Friendship. Today, however, was something different and interesting.
“If you had a different body part out of the six of us, what would it be?” Silverstream asked unexpectedly one calm evening, “That doesn’t include Ocellus, who can magically shapeshift whenever she likes.”
“Hey!” The usually shy changeling piped up, causing the others to laugh. Yona thought long and hard before nodding.
“Yona would love wings!” The yak piped up, “Flying fun!”
“Flying or falling?” Gallus teased.
“Flying!” Yona glared at Gallus, “Yak don’t like falling.”
“Anyway,” Gallus smiled, “Silvertream’s swimming ability would be amazing. Swimming and flying do sound cool.”
“I would love to have the ability to fly like a pegasus as well,” Sandbar smiled, “That sounds so cool. Watching the world go by on some nice fluffy cloud.”
“It sure does!” The happy hippogriff beamed, “But to have the ability to change into different creatures like a changeling would be amazing! I would get to try different things all at the same time!”
“Why would any creature want to exchange different body parts or abilities?” Smolder huffed, earning a round of confused looks from the other creatures, “I wouldn’t change any part of mine for some other creatures’.”
Silverstream gasped at her dragon friend, “What do you mean?! Do you ever wish you can have some different part of ability?”
“Feathery wings mean you have to spend hours preening them than scaled wings, Swimming would block my fire-breathing, and as much as I would like the ability to shapeshift, it would get rather old for me. Not to mention I already have horns like a yak,” Smolder listed off her issues with what they just discussed.
This earned a nod from Gallus and Silverstream, who inspected theirs and each others’ feathery appendages. Ocellus was just annoyed and grumbled silently. Yona looked up until she was cross-eyed at her horns before inspecting the dragon’s horns. Sandbar rolled her eyes.
“What about hooves?” Sandbar asked.
“How do you ponies even grab things with those round ends?” Smolder raised a brow, “Some freaky pony magic must be behind it, but I don’t want to make my head hurt. Headmare Twilight’s lectures already do a good job with that. Anyway, you can’t beat claws.”
“What about paws?” A voice spoke up from behind them, causing them to jump in surprise. They turned around together to find Spike coming towards them, a warm mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows floating on top in one claw.
“What do you mean?” Smolder asked the other dragon.
“How would you feel about soft paws?” Spike asked the question again.
“You mean like a dog?” Smolder asked, “You had paws?”
“Yep, and it was an experience,” Spike chuckled.
“What do you mean?” Sandbar said. Spike looked around before coming closer.
“Twilight isn’t here and she doesn’t want any pony or creature knowing about what she has in one corner of her library. Can I trust you all to keep a secret?”
“Cross my heart, hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye.” The group did the famous vow.
FOREVER
A familiar voice echoed around the room.
“Don’t question it, it’s Pinkie Pie. Don’t question it, it’s Pinkie Pie,” Gallus muttered as he buried his head in his talons.
“It’s for the best,” Spike nodded sympathetically before moving on to his secret, beckoning the others to lean into a group huddle “What if I were to tell you that in the castle, in one corner Twilight’s library is a mirror.”
“What’s so special about some mirror?” Smolder asked with little interest.
“This mirror, when activated with magic, leads to an entirely different dimension, where there are strange creatures that walk on two legs instead of four. However, somehow, I became a dog…” Spike trailed off, performing some sort of dramatic pause. The others looked at him as if he had gone mad. Smolder tried her best to hold back her laughter.
“A magical mirror? Yeah, right. And I thought the Tree of Harmony teaching us about friendship would be weird, not some made-up mirror,” Smolder said with a hint of sarcasm.
“It’s no joke,” Spike glared, “I became a dog and me and Twilight became one of those creatures. We had to travel through it to get her Element of Magic back.”
“Why didn’t we get taught this at school?” Sandbar asked.
“Twilight thought many wouldn’t believe her, and she was given strict instructions for Princess Celestia to never say anything about what happened on the other side of it,” Spike explained, “But you guys are good at keeping secrets, so I feel safe to tell you. You spoke to Twilight and her friends, including me, privately about the Tree of Harmony after your adventures with it.”
“As fun as this story sounds, it’s getting late and I would really like to catch some Zs,” Gallus said, the other four students nodded and left. The only ones in the room were the two dragons.
“So what do you think, Smolder?” Spike wiggled his eyebrows, “Want to check it out?”
Smolder gulped. It clicked that her friends left her with Spike to settle this, so she got herself into this one fair and square. There was one way to get out of it and she had to just go with it.
“Okay Spike, you win,” Smolder sighed, "But if Headmare Twilight founds out, I’m going to say it was your idea.” Spike nodded and led Smolder out of the school and into the Castle of Friendship. Spike knew the castle like the back of his claw. He also knew that, according to Twilight’s schedule, she would be busy marking yesterday's homework and coming up with exciting ways to engage the students in her next lecture.
Spike and Smolder soon arrived at Twilight’s library and presented the magical mirror to Smolder. She looked at it from different angles. It stood just above an average pony’s height. It was decorated with purple jewels around its border, and she admitted that they looked tasty. Spike, with limited knowledge, explained how magic is used to activate the mirror, along with his and Twilight’s adventures on the other side.
He went on to explain how they met alternate versions of his pony friends, of a former student who went against Princess Celestia’s wishes and ran through the mirror. How Twilight offered her a hoof, or hand, in friendship. How they found out Star Swirl the Bearded imprisoned sirens into that dimension and were defeated by Twilight and her alternate friends.
Smolder soaked in all the information as she continued looking at the magical mirror, walking around it and flying at different angles to get a better perspective.
“Sorry, Spike, but I still have my doubts,” Smolder scratched her head as she stared at her reflection, “So you and Headmare Twilight went through this mirror and went to some alternate crazy dimension. Big deal.”
Smolder turned to Spike but became a bit worried when she saw a smug look on his face. Spike went over to the machine next to the mirror and turned it on. The mirror glowed softly and the glass became more fluid and waved around in the frame.
“Now put a claw through,” Spike instructed, “I learnt that that best way to get some creature to believe me is by simply letting them get a taste of it.” Smolder turned to the glass and gave a strong gulp, a ball forming in her throat. She raised a claw and let it past through the liquid glass. What she saw next made her draw drop and Spike’s smug face grow bigger.
From the other side of the shifting glass was an orange-furred paw. It was not a trick or an illusion spell, Smolder could feel this new appendage. She flexed each digit, confirming that it was her paw, or was it still a claw? Smolder’s head couldn’t get past what she was seeing in front of her. She flipped it over to inspect the fur. It was a similar colour to her scaly body and she felt that it was lighter and softer.
“Okay,” Smolder stuttered, “This is just plain weird.” She quickly retracted her paw, which changed back to a dragon’s claw once out of the glass. She inspected it before sighing. Spike deactivated the mirror’s magic and it became just a regular mirror again.
“Now imagine that same thing, but a whole dog,” Spike smiled victoriously. Smolder didn’t even want to imagine what it would be like to be a full dog.
“Too many details,” Smolder waved her claws, “I think I have seen enough to believe that this is some crazy portal to another dimension." She then turned back to the mirror, seeing her dragon self in the glass. She could have sworn that her image flickered to a more canine reflection, but didn’t want any more craziness in one evening.
“So ponies turn into these strange two-legged creatures?” Smolder asked, which earned a nod from Spike, “And other creatures turn into dogs?”
“No, I think it’s more of a dragon thing?” Spike pondered on that. Smolder imagined what her friends would be like, but dismissed the very thought. She would rather have them as the creatures they are as well as her friends.
“Well, as much as I found this experience weird and interesting, I think I would still stick with claws,” Smolder chuckled, “It’s still an easy way to grab things.”
“Agreed, much better than doing it with your mouth like an earth pony,” Spike nodded in agreement.
*Ahem*
Both ponies froze as the sound of some pony clearing their throat could be heard from across the library. Both dragons froze as they turned to face a familiar purple alicorn marching her way towards them.
“Could some dragon explain this to me?” Twilight asked sternly as a certain diary with a split cutie mark front cover was levitated from behind her in the alicorn’s purple magical aura. She flipped through the pages and showed them the latest entry. Both dragons peered at the words.
Hey Twilight,
I was going back home from Canterlot High when the portal to Equestria suddenly opened up. I thought you were here for another visit, or that maybe some wild magic was on the loose again. I rushed over to see you, only for an orange dog paw to come out and disappear back through the other side.
Is something wrong on your side?
Hope to see you soon.
Your friend,
-Sunset Shimmer
"I always keep this close to me whenever I sit down in case something pops up from a certain friend of mine. Imagine my surprise when I found it glowing and vibrating. Then this strange message appeared on the page. I was worried something was wrong with the mirror so I rushed here to see if there was something wrong with it. So I'll ask again, what did you do?"
Twilight waited impatiently for an explanation, her hoof tapping on the carpet. Both Spike and Smolder gulped before Smolder pointed an accusing claw at the younger dragon.
“It was Spike’s idea!” Smolder shouted hurridly before zooming off out of the library, leaving a trail of dust behind her. Twilight and Spike watched her go before the alicorn turned to her Number One Assistant. Beads of sweat trickled down his head and he gave a smile to Twilight.
“Welcome home, Twilight… How was the marking?”
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I wish we got to see more dragons as dogs in the EG world, if for no other reason than to calm people who are still upset over Spike being one there.
I always find that kind of stuff funny. Blame the other guy then run for your life.
LOL. Just LOL.
I'd expect the truth being the very first conclusion for Sunset to reach. Not some terrible unknown disaster, but the students of the nearby School of Friendship finally finding the portal. Dog -> Dragon is reasonably well established, although nobody knows so far what would a hippogriff or a changeling turn into.
This was good, though now I kinda want to see all of the student six go through the portal and meet Sunset,
11079357 11079368
It would be an interesting concept to explore ^^
Ouch, poor Spike got busted there!
I wouldn't mind seeing the Young Six going though the portal completely later, for the experience at least!
That is a pretty good question throughout the years ever since season 1 even in the movie My Little Pony new generation how the heck do they do that
Hope to fly
I know Gallus I know 😅
Actually that's always been a good question about the other creatures turning into different animals when they jump through into the human world
That is always been a very interesting theory about how the other creatures would look like if they jump into the human world as I said so Spike ask the kids if they want to check it out not to jump through but just to experience it the others did not but smolder went with him so they went to the mirror he turn on the thing and in her surprise her claw turn into a paw but unfortunately Twilight was not too happy with Spike telling them the secret about the human world something tells me he's got a lot of explaining to do this was a pretty funny story keep up the good work
11079288
Most people assume that the portal, when faced with a changeling, just throws up its nonexistent hands and says "why should I waste my time when your usual means of blending in when you shouldn't will work just fine?" Admittedly, most people don't have Human Sunset as an anti-changeling magical girl.
!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
"P.S. The paw made a rude gesture right as Vice Principal Luna was passing by, and I'm at a loss to explain it to her."
11079611
YES!!!
Redundant corner is redundant.
Because if Lyra ever found out about it...
Well...it was!
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Well, it's not ALL of the Young Six...but we get a decent share of them in this fic.
- MLP: FiM
- Equestria Girls
- Comedy
- Slice of Life
Four Equestrian teenagers. One human mall. Predictable results.I wonder what kind of dog Smolder would be.
I bet she'd be a poodle.
11079288
I could see griffins and hippogriffs turning into birds. For changelings, beetles maybe? (Like is this story: Out of this World by Mouse-Deer)
I could see yaks as humans though.
derpicdn.net/img/2021/6/4/2628387/large.png Could you do something based on this picture?
This is a fun idea.
Though why are dragons made into pets? One of life's mysteries.
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Depends on me having the creativity sometimes ^^
11079962
Personally, I had always figured that since changelings are already shapeshifters with variable forms, the mirror wouldn't quite know what to do with that and instead just spit the changeling in question out on the other side either completely unchanged, or locked into their natural base form lacking the magic needed to change into a different form, seeing the EqG world isn't exactly as magic-filled as Equestria is.
11080318
Could be, maybe their morphing powers are limited. I mean the sirens were able to use their abilities to a degree. And with magic leaking into the human world after Friendship Games who knows what changelings could be capable of?
11080034
Maybe because dragons are counterparts to wolves, and since Spike is a 'civilized' dragon, he turned into a 'civilized' wolf, aka a dog?
11080318
But is the magic lock related to human biology, i.e. maybe humans need a focus to cast magic, like a unicorn's horn or the magic gems that only give one superpower?
Maybe changelings would turn into humans too, and thus be magic locked.
Possibly they would turn into some kind of insect, what with their whole bug thing they have going on.
Alt title Going out on a limb
What is Sunset doing that late in school looking that the statue? I mean, the others were going to sleep
What would griffons turn into? Changeling? Kirin? Yaks?
Cuz if only dragons turn into dogs... that's RACISMS!!!!
DEVOUR ALL THE PONES IN VENGEANCE, DRAGON LORD!!!
11080379 So you're saying dragons are the pets of ponies, and not an independent sapient species.
Such pony supremacy!
(Alondro can play this Devil's Advocate thing real good-like!) 
11080939
Probably real easy for you too, because there are times where I have to wonder if you truly are the Devil's Advocate, Alondro.
11081005 *Alondro... maintains plausible deniability...*
*later: secret phone call* They may be on to us, Leeds. We may need to hide out in the Pines for a while until this blows over!
i.pinimg.com/originals/e2/37/f7/e237f7665701a1d96536378d74dfec91.jpg
11079283
There's a great story out there about an evil villain who sneaks across the mirror, adopts 20 shelter dogs, trains them to be loyal and then leads them in an invasion of the Crystal Empire.
Cute story, if a bit simple. Wish I had gotten around to it sooner.
11079383
Never question the Ponk Gallus.
11079961
That would be way to adorable!! Although I think she's more likely to be a retriever.
11079938
Yes... Why can't we get any good stories about Pony Lyra harassing people in EqG?!
11079283
Smolder knows not to get involved in that disaster. As a librarian, Twilight will go after the weakest prey.
11084271
What is the story's name?
11080379
That doesn't work since dragons are sapient as ponies.
Like talking and intelligent-enough
I feel like Smolder should be pretty upset that dragons are reduced to dogs like that.
The fact Spike wasn't just irks me too..
Or at least question it more since it REALLY made no sense for dragons to be dogs.
Especially if Diamond DOGS got to be humans.
11079283
It wouldn't calm anyone down on that.
Its a "damn if you do, damn if you don't" situation.
Since Spike being the only on as a dog comes off as he's been singled out for the sake of a joke while saying he's inferior to the Mane 6.
And blocking him from being equals and blocked from their bond. And how its so unfair for him.
While having all dragons be dogs still singles out Spike since he's different from ponies(being a dragon) and is saying dragons are a lower inferior species(despite being freaking sapient as ponies, etc.) And also screws Smolder up since she is part of a set of Bearers.
Its even more ridiculous when Diamond DOGS got to be humans.
11222043
Oh my god shut up about your whining about Spike being a dog already, nobody cares! You can’t post a single comment anywhere on this site that doesn’t include you throwing a tantrum about that like a three year old with a petty grudge. It’s old and it’s boring.
11222269
Some fans do care about that bit though.
I am not throwing some tantrum.
Just.. sorry..
11224671
If you’re sorry, then stop posting comments about it.
11224719
I can't just bottle them up.
11243708
NOBODY CARES!
Replace you with would.
And replace my with me.
I recommend removing "in the corner" as I don't think you need to mention it twice.
Add another " after sigh. Remove to comma and replace it with a period. And lastly, capitalize but.
Replace a with her so it says "a ball forming in her throat."
trick, not tick
Add another " after dimension.